Babysitting
by o0IzumiSensei0o
Summary: During his two weeks of vacation from the academy, Jim finds himself with nothing to do. But after finding himself stuck with the Doppler children he realizes that maybe having too much freetime isn't so bad.


I've decided to take a short break from my longer stories and work on a oneshot. I've noticed that there are very few stories with the Doppler children in them so I came up with this.

Disclaimer: I own nothing until further notice...

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><p>It was rare that the interstellar academy gave it students a break, but when it did, most cadets would take this time of rest as an advantage. Jim; however, wasn't one of these people. The break was only two weeks long, but Jim managed to do everything he had planned to do on his free time, and bluntly, he was board out of his mind. Although he enjoyed solar surfing, it was becoming bland; being that he had yet to invent new stunts. He did help his mother and B.E.N with the Benbow but that wasn't what he classified as 'fun', not to mention B.E.N seemed to be having no trouble managing the Inn by himself. Truth be told, Jim actually couldn't wait to go back to the academy.<p>

Today, he found himself aimlessly roaming around the gloomy planet Montresser. Afternoon storms were very likely from the look of the overcast skies and shops around town were preparing for quite the downpour. As he walked down the cobble stone road, kicking around a small round pebble, he noticed that he wasn't far from the Doppler's mansion. He realized that ever since he had come home to Montresser, he hadn't even seen the Doppler's at all. It couldn't hurt to pay them a visit; after all, the kids would be thrilled to see him. He walked about another half mile down the road; he finally arrived at the mansion. He strolled up the long pathway that led to the front door. He wasn't sure if anyone was home since Delbert's carriage was missing. Perhaps they went on an outing. Jim decided that it wouldn't hurt to at least see if someone was home. He knocked on the hard wooden door and waited for about a minute. Suddenly he heard hurried footsteps and the unlocking of the door. The door flung open and there stood an exhausted Amelia holding her only son on her hip.

"Mr. Hawkins, what a pleasant surprise." she smiled.

"Uh...hello Captain." said Jim, slightly puzzled. "I was just going to pay a visit and see how things were going."

Amelia adjusted her son so he wouldn't slip off her hip, and then turned her attention back to Jim. "Yes, well, as much as I would enjoy your company, today isn't the most convenient time, I afraid. You see, I kind of have my hands full at the moment."

Jim nodded with understanding. "I see what you mean, but where's the doc?"

"Unfortunately, he had to do a lecture at a collage somewhere at the space port." Amelia explained. "Since I have the day off, I have no choice but to look after the children."

A loud clatter from the kitchen grabbed the attention of the two. Amelia rolled her eyes and gave a long sigh. She looked back at Jim for a fraction of a second then, without saying a word, rush for the kitchen to see what the matter was. Jim stood there not sure how to react. He considered leaving but decided that he should see what was going on. When he walked into the kitchen he spotted Amelia kneeling down and talking to her little red head daughter.

"Victoria, how many times must I tell you not to climb onto the counter. "Amelia scolded looking down at the four year old who was pouting. "Honestly, what am i going to do with you?"

"Do you need any help?" Jim asked, picking up Amelia's son, Benjamin.

"That won't be necessary, James." Amelia said, turning around. "I wouldn't want to have you working on your day off."

"No really, it's okay." Jim said waving his arms. "I've got nothing better to do. And I can guarantee that you can't take care of all four kids on your own."

Amelia looked at him for a second then then gave a sigh of relief. "I owe you for this, Hawkins."

"No problem." Jim shrugged. 'But when is Doc getting back?"

"I believe Delbert said that he'd be back sometime around eight or something like that." Amelia answered.

"M'kay, then I guess I'll just find some way to preoccupy them until then." Jim said. "Where are the other two?"

"Katherine has a fever so she's most likely asleep right now." Amelia stated, "And I do believe Daisy is playing in the living room. I'd suggest you find a way to tire them out so they won't be too much of a hassle."

"Okay then; sounds easy enough."

"Mind you, they get bored easily. So try a variety of activities." Amelia warned. "I can help you if you'd like."

"That might be a good idea. After all, you're their mom; they gotta listen to you." said Jim.

"If that were the case, I seriously doubt that you would be helping me right now." Amelia smirked, picking up Victoria. "Now then, how about we head to the living room, I'm sure they'll find something to do."

Jim nodded and followed Amelia to the next room across from the foyer. Benjamin seemed to have found it amusing to play with the collar of Jim's jacket. Jim had to admit that it was kind of...cute. Amelia looked back over her shoulder and chuckled at the sight.

"It seems he's taken a liking to you already." She commented. Jim laughed a little and looked back at the toddler who was giggling.

When they walked into the living room Jim spotted Amelia's blond haired daughter, Daisy playing with a doll. The kitten looked up and stared at the two. She put the doll down and dashed over to Amelia, hugging her legs. Amelia put Victoria down to join her sister and Jim did the same to Benjamin, who was a little disappointed.

"Uncle Jim!" Daisy squealed, clearly happy to see the teen.

Jim rarely had the advantage to see the four Doppler children nowadays being that he was attending the Interstellar academy. But when he did see them, all four would usually follow him everywhere he went. Benjamin always enjoyed his visits the most, probably because it gave him the opportunity to hang around another boy.

"Momma!" a voice cried from the upper floor.

Amelia sighed and walked over to the stairs. "I'm afraid that must be Katherine. I'll be back in a short while. You can manage them, can't you, Mr. Hawkins?"

"Sure, piece of cake, Captain." Jim answered. Amelia nodded, and then proceeded up the stairway. Once she was out of sight, Jim turned his attention to the trio who were looking up at him. "So what do you guys want to do?"

"Let's play house!" Daisy declared, but received unsatisfied glares from her two siblings.

Jim laughed a little. "Maybe we should find something you all would enjoy." He suggested.

"Can we play tag?" Victoria asked, batting her beautiful green eyes. Daisy didn't seem to protest against her proposition.

"Okay, that sounds fun." Jim said, but before he could say anything further, Victoria tagged his leg and dashed away. Daisy laughed and followed her sister.

"You're it, Uncle Jim!" they both shouted in unison. Jim groaned and slowly trailed after them, not very ecstatically. But before he got too far, he looked back to see what Benjamin was doing. The puppy just stood there and shrugged, not sure what to do.

"You-uh-want to help, Ben?" Jim asked. Benjamin nodded shyly and followed Jim into the next room. Jim noticed that the two girls had pick the worst possible stop to play tag; Delbert's study. Clearly the Captain must have just given up on asking him to clean the place. "Hey I thought we were playing tag, not hide-and-seek." Jim shouted out, clearly not in the mood to have to climb over mountains of books. He heard them giggling but couldn't pinpoint their exact location.

"Uncle Jim, I think their over there." Benjamin pointed out, tugging on Jim's pant leg. Jim smile and crept over to the direction the canid was pointing. Suddenly he heard a squeal and Victoria jumped out from behind a book shelf. She was clearly terrified with whatever it was. Daisy also darted from behind the shelf and hid behind her sister.

"What's wrong?" Jim asked, a little confused.

"T-there's a spider!" Daisy exclaimed her light blue eyes filled with horror.

Jim laughed out loud. "Is that all?"

The two felinids glared at him, clearly not happy. Benjamin laughed a bit as well then walked behind the bookcase. He walked out a moment later with a small black spider in his hands. His sisters both screamed and ran behind Jim. Benjamin handed the spider to Jim who was by now howling with laughter.

"Come on, now. It's not going to hurt you." Jim smiled holding it out to let the two girls see.

"GET IT AWAY!" They screamed covering they're eyes.

Jim looked over his shoulder a Benjamin and winked. "Okay, then I guess you to would care if I squished it, huh?"

Both girls whipped their heads up and stared at him. "No don't do that!" Victoria shouted.

"But I thought you two hated spiders." Jim smirked.

"Yeah, but we don't want you to kill it!" Daisy said.

"Okay then, if you want it to live take it and release it out the front door." Jim said holding the spider out to the girls. They both stood there terrified not sure what to do. Victoria took a deep breath and snatched the spider out of his hands. She darted for the door, opened it, and tossed it out as quickly as she could. She walked back and looked at Jim who was standing there with a grin on his face. "Now was that so hard?" Victoria shook her head 'no'. "Then from now on, when you see a spider, do the same thing you just did and you should have no more problems."

"Can we play something else?" Daisy asked.

"Like what?"

"House!" she said happily, once again receiving glares from her two siblings.

"No, I want to play Spacers!" Victoria protested. 'She's definitely her mother's child, all right.' Jim thought to himself.

"What about you Ben? What do you want to play?"

"Spacing's alright with me, I guess." The little canid said.

"Fine." Daisy sighed folding her arms.

"So how do you play?" Jim asked.

"Two of us are pirates and the other two are spacers." Victoria explained. "The spacers have to find the treasure that they hid but if you get caught you die!"

Jim shrugged. "Sounds simple enough."

The game started with Jim and Benjamin being pirates and Victoria and Daisy being spacers. The first few rounds were fun, but when it started getting around round 7, Jim didn't know it he could keep going. The Doppler kids seemed to be filled with lodes of energy that just didn't seem to run out. About six minutes into the 8th round, Jim saw Amelia watching them from the stair case with Katherine sleeping in her arms; head on her shoulder.

"Having fun are we James?" She sneered, watching as Jim tried to tag Victoria.

"I thought you said you'd be right back!" Jim panted. " These kids are going to kill me!"

"Well, I was a little preoccupied with taking care of Katherine." Amelia explained. "They're twice as hard to take care of when their sick, you know."

"I have no idea how you manage it." Jim said, attempting to tag Daisy. "And the Doc has to look after them when you're at work, so he has to deal with this every day!"

"If you sit them down and tell them a story or something, they aren't that bad." Amelia explained. "I'm surprised you haven't tried that yet."

"Now you tell me?" Jim shouted, plopping on the ground.

"Why'd you stop!" Victoria asked puzzled. Both Benjamin and Daisy stopped and looked around to see what the matter was.

"Change of plans." Jim panted. "I think I'll read you guys a story."

"Yay!" they all exclaimed, jumping with joy.

They all made their way into the living room. Jim walked over to a bookshelf that was in the corner of the room and grabbed a book that was all too familiar to him. He walked back to the couch and opened it to the first page. All the Doppler kids were thrilled to see that Jim had picked out one of their most favorite books, even Katherine managed to stay awake, despite her fever, to hear the story of Treasure Planet. About half way through the story, virtually everyone had fallen asleep even Jim and Amelia.

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><p>Around 7:00 pm. that evening, Delbert walked in through the front door. He was surprised to see that the house was almost completely dead quiet. He hung his maroon overcoat on the rack and noticed the orange glow from the fireplace coming from the living room. He slowly opened the door and spotted Jim, Amelia, and his four children all sound asleep. He walked over to his wife and nudged her awake. She looked up and smiled, still half asleep.<p>

"What's Jim doing here?" He whispered, as to not disturb anyone.

"He was helping me with the kids." Amelia answered. "He's one hell of a boy."

"I guess I should call Sarah and tell her that he's going to be spending the night, huh?" Delbert said.

"I think you should." Amelia smiled, looking over to the teen with the holo-book half open in his hands.

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><p>AN: Please review!


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